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Computers

Minebea readies COOL LEAF keyboard for launch

By Paul Ridden
April 27, 2011
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Minebea has announced that the COOL LEAF shiny, flat, touch panel keyboard is set for a May release in Japan
Minebea has announced that the COOL LEAF shiny, flat, touch panel keyboard is set for a May release in Japan

Japan's Minebea has announced that the utterly gorgeous concept COOL LEAF touch panel keyboard designed by Dr. Kazuo Kawasaki is to be released next month. Initially available to Japanese Windows users only, the company says that a Mac version is on the way. Other language layouts are scheduled for release later in the year.

Minebea says that the black framed, mirror-like flat touch panel surface of the COOL LEAF USB keyboard is expected to head for "dimly-lit home theater environments, medical treatment sites and food plants where cleanliness is important and clean rooms where dust resistance is required."

The keys are displayed on the input peripheral's shiny touch panel thanks to light guide plate-type backlights, and keying measured by combined electrostatic capacity and load sensor using a new film technology developed by Toray Industries.

Although no price has been specified in the company release, Akihabara News estimates that it will cost around JPY 26,000 (US$316).

The 108-key Japanese language version of the stunning 15 x 5 x 0.67-inch (383 x 128 x 17 mm) keyboard will hit retail outlets throughout Japan from May 13.

Personally I had hoped that users might be able to configure the keyboard layout, but the scheduled release of English, German, French, and Italian layout versions in July suggests that this won't be possible.

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ComputersKeyboardTouchscreenMinebea
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Paul Ridden
While Paul is loath to reveal his age, he will admit to cutting his IT teeth on a TRS-80 (although he won't say which version). An obsessive fascination with computer technology blossomed from hobby into career before hopping over to France for 10 years, where he started work for New Atlas in 2009. Now back in his native Blighty, he serves as Managing Editor in Europe.
6 comments
Troy Swindells-Grose
Yeah - looks cool - but let\'s remember that touch typists are exactly that? You need to FEEL the location of the keys relative to each other??
Charles Bosse
What would be even better is a cheap hack for a tablet to allow it to become a bluetooth keyboard for another computer. Given the price tag on this thing, it would make more economic sense just to buy a tablet.
Electronic Enes
That seems like a step in the WRONG direction! Or simply cashing in on the current \"touch\" craze!
Akinseloyin Segun
good job!
John Carman
Agreed, it needs to be configurable by the user, and I always envisioned a touch screen keypad as being able change to the users task at hand; drawing pad, note pad, put a cam in it and make it skyp interface that can be carried into another room, a game board, display video streamed from computer, ect...
kalqlate
Microsoft already has a configurable solution currently called the Adaptive Keyboard. It is composed of keys that contain optics that project their small portion of an underlying LCD to the surface of the keys. There is also a 2-inch touch pad/strip that runs the length of the keyboard above the top row of keys. What would\'ve been even better in the design is if the LCD panel extended beyond the right side of the keyboard by about 3 to 4 inches. That would allow various smart phone OS\'s to be emulated on that portion of the keyboard. It would be an especially great celling point for WP7... \"Now the numeric keypad area of your keyboard can function identically to your phone while accessing all of the media and data of your computer and wirelessly, your smart phone.\"

Search for \"Microsoft Adaptive Keyboard\" on YouTube.

P.S.: It is NOT the same technology as the Optimus Maximus keyboard.
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